AussieLux
New member
Hi there everyone.
I've been perusing this site for the last three months since deciding to get my axie.
I had hoped that I wouldn't be needing to post in the 'sick axie' section for a long time but it seems my axie might have an issue. I'm sorry this is long, but I am providing as much information as possible so as to best give Luxie what he needs if he is sick so he gets well again.
I've had him since the 28th of May and things have been going well thus far. Over the last week or two however i think I am noticing that his gills are changing. The look like they are either shrinking or disappearing.
For the life of me I cant figure out why.
Now before you say the obvious, let me stop you and tell you how the conditions are
He is in a cycled tank. The cycle has not crashed, and since I have become suspicious of something really being up the last 2-3 days I have been ensuring that the tank has not crashed it's cycle suddenly either with water testing twice daily over the said days.
The equipment was all new except the tank which was an old goldfish tank that was in dormant storage for about 10 years, however it was well washed before my axie went into the tank and spent about 5-6 weeks to get to full cycle. He didn't go in till the cycling was complete by the way. In the interim he was in a plastic temp tub with 30 litres of water which was changed 100% every 6 days, and the ammonia never got too high, only at trace amounts as I am fastidious with his waste. Never was any nitrite or nitrate in that one as it wasn't cycling and was changed often enough so as to remain ok for Lux.
Since going into the cycled permanent tank, as I said not had any issue with ammonia, nitrite- both being steady at 0 ppm. Nitrates get to 40ppm before I do a 50% water change bringing them down to 20ppm about every 2 weeks. GH and KH are in the 71-100ppm range which my testing kit says is suitable for most cold water aquariums fish and plant species (though I haven't been able to find any literature on what this should be for axolotls though would this be that different???)
The tank has 3 types of filter:
Filter 1 & 2 are an air-driven filter which splits from a single airline into a simple sponge filter (i think that's what they call them- forgive me it is close to 1am here as i write this) which I have modified to capture the output air to create a moving bed filter as well. On the other side of the airline is a separate moving bed filter. One thing to note is that the media is not actually not moving like I would like, but they are working regardless I think. Air output from these two are in a way that they don't cause must disturbance to the water. One being just below the water surface and the other on a timed intermittent release in the corner of the tank.
Filter 3 is a spout filter (i know not the proper name, can't recall right now) but basically its in the tank, sucking up water and making it come out a spout at the top. I did have zeolite chips in this filter till last Wednesday, when i did a water change and decided I didn't need them in it anymore as the biofilter by this point was established and I didn't need the extra help for my plants like at the beginning of the tank setup before the cycle was fully established. Right now it is just a simple sponge insert as it originally was from factory. I have modified the output of this as well so that the water comes out like an upsidedown shower head spray and hits the tank cover and splashes down like gentle rain so as to remove as much kinetic energy as possible.
The amount of water disturbance is minimal in the tank I believe, given the way I have set it up, upon close observation- the live plants in the tank do not move at all and only on the very surface of the water is there any observable movement.
Temperature has been in a stable range from about 8 to 18.5 degrees Celsius so I don't think there is a temp issue (though I do worry about our coming Aussie summer in a few months time).
I can't see anything visually wrong with him other than his gills. He was still eating when I last fed him yesterday. I have been fattening him up with some fresh live European Nightcrawlers which I now grow myself after buying a few packs from the lizard store near us, and he also gets the odd carnivore and axolotl pellet. He has been getting either 1 or two pellets a day or one big worm a day- though now he is at a good weight so I will start cutting back.
If his gills are having a problem it hasn't affected his eating-He has a voracious appetite still, though today I didn't feed him as yesterday he was scaring me. He was floating and I was wondering if this has to do with his gills or if he had some poorly timed gastric disturbance? I woke to find him on the floor of his tank today. I decided that today he wouldn't have had any food for upon reading the site I thought it best to withhold food just incase it was a tummy upset. In saying that on a side note- how the heck do I know if he is gassy and stressed???
At no point yesterday did he seem upset or struggling. To be honest, if it wasn't for what I think is his 'gill issue' and me being worried, I would have said he seemed to just want to spend yesterday floating in the one corner of the tank relaxing. He made the odd swim to the floor and even rested in his nest on the floor of the tank with no problem, but he spent about 90% of yesterday floating quite happily I think??? If I was nuts I would say he knew I was nervous about him checking him so often and he was playing games with me (my axie is trained in psychological warfare or what lol).
Anyhow, fortunately I have been keeping a visual record of Lux since day 1 and have collated pictures of him so as to show you here for opinion on Luxie's Gill health.
I am at a loss as to why the gills I think are thinning/shrinking. I asked my mum for her opinion as I am not sure if the pictures quite show what I mean but she thinks he is losing them from the insides of his gill stem too. The ones still there are quite shorter I think and less lustrous than what they were.
Could this be an aeration issue with too much Oxygen in the tank (or not enough???)
I have read both online over the last few days on various sites- conflicting with each other. Even though I know he has lungs and can go to get air from the surface (which he has been doing, though I am not sure if it is too excess), I am a bit hesitant to think of fridging him at this point as if it is for example a low oxygen issue and his gills are damaged, would putting him in a lower oxygen environment be risky?
Speaking of fridging -He also doesn't like the smaller tub I found out (though I might try with a clear tub next time instead of opaque), as when I have put him in a small transfer tub suitable for fridging, he gets pissed off and races around the tub trying to get out and needs a firm lid on it so as to stop wanting to jump- which boggles me as the water in the said tub was treated and fine. Perhaps he is claustrophobic??
I am not sure if the gills have shrunken as much in appearance today as I have left him resting in his hide for the most part and the tank is in night mode right now so I don't want to bug him, but I do wonder if the last 2-3 days it has become that much more obvious or if i'm just getting so worried i'm imagining them shrinking.
I did try to call a local vet for advice here in Melbourne whilst I was waiting for the administrators to allow me to make this first post -and I won't tell you the explicits of what he said other than to say that he said a $30 pet is disposable and that I shouldn't be so concerned if he dies... if it wasn't for the fact he is excellent with my dog I wouldn't be going back to him but I have heard that is how he is with what he deems 'cheaper' pets (he told a friend with a wonderful pet rabbit the same thing).
I would be so grateful for the opinions of those of you here with experience as the prolific members on this site seem to be better grounded than any advice local vets or aquariums selling axies have been.
Kind thanks,
Matt.
I've been perusing this site for the last three months since deciding to get my axie.
I had hoped that I wouldn't be needing to post in the 'sick axie' section for a long time but it seems my axie might have an issue. I'm sorry this is long, but I am providing as much information as possible so as to best give Luxie what he needs if he is sick so he gets well again.
I've had him since the 28th of May and things have been going well thus far. Over the last week or two however i think I am noticing that his gills are changing. The look like they are either shrinking or disappearing.
For the life of me I cant figure out why.
Now before you say the obvious, let me stop you and tell you how the conditions are
He is in a cycled tank. The cycle has not crashed, and since I have become suspicious of something really being up the last 2-3 days I have been ensuring that the tank has not crashed it's cycle suddenly either with water testing twice daily over the said days.
The equipment was all new except the tank which was an old goldfish tank that was in dormant storage for about 10 years, however it was well washed before my axie went into the tank and spent about 5-6 weeks to get to full cycle. He didn't go in till the cycling was complete by the way. In the interim he was in a plastic temp tub with 30 litres of water which was changed 100% every 6 days, and the ammonia never got too high, only at trace amounts as I am fastidious with his waste. Never was any nitrite or nitrate in that one as it wasn't cycling and was changed often enough so as to remain ok for Lux.
Since going into the cycled permanent tank, as I said not had any issue with ammonia, nitrite- both being steady at 0 ppm. Nitrates get to 40ppm before I do a 50% water change bringing them down to 20ppm about every 2 weeks. GH and KH are in the 71-100ppm range which my testing kit says is suitable for most cold water aquariums fish and plant species (though I haven't been able to find any literature on what this should be for axolotls though would this be that different???)
The tank has 3 types of filter:
Filter 1 & 2 are an air-driven filter which splits from a single airline into a simple sponge filter (i think that's what they call them- forgive me it is close to 1am here as i write this) which I have modified to capture the output air to create a moving bed filter as well. On the other side of the airline is a separate moving bed filter. One thing to note is that the media is not actually not moving like I would like, but they are working regardless I think. Air output from these two are in a way that they don't cause must disturbance to the water. One being just below the water surface and the other on a timed intermittent release in the corner of the tank.
Filter 3 is a spout filter (i know not the proper name, can't recall right now) but basically its in the tank, sucking up water and making it come out a spout at the top. I did have zeolite chips in this filter till last Wednesday, when i did a water change and decided I didn't need them in it anymore as the biofilter by this point was established and I didn't need the extra help for my plants like at the beginning of the tank setup before the cycle was fully established. Right now it is just a simple sponge insert as it originally was from factory. I have modified the output of this as well so that the water comes out like an upsidedown shower head spray and hits the tank cover and splashes down like gentle rain so as to remove as much kinetic energy as possible.
The amount of water disturbance is minimal in the tank I believe, given the way I have set it up, upon close observation- the live plants in the tank do not move at all and only on the very surface of the water is there any observable movement.
Temperature has been in a stable range from about 8 to 18.5 degrees Celsius so I don't think there is a temp issue (though I do worry about our coming Aussie summer in a few months time).
I can't see anything visually wrong with him other than his gills. He was still eating when I last fed him yesterday. I have been fattening him up with some fresh live European Nightcrawlers which I now grow myself after buying a few packs from the lizard store near us, and he also gets the odd carnivore and axolotl pellet. He has been getting either 1 or two pellets a day or one big worm a day- though now he is at a good weight so I will start cutting back.
If his gills are having a problem it hasn't affected his eating-He has a voracious appetite still, though today I didn't feed him as yesterday he was scaring me. He was floating and I was wondering if this has to do with his gills or if he had some poorly timed gastric disturbance? I woke to find him on the floor of his tank today. I decided that today he wouldn't have had any food for upon reading the site I thought it best to withhold food just incase it was a tummy upset. In saying that on a side note- how the heck do I know if he is gassy and stressed???
At no point yesterday did he seem upset or struggling. To be honest, if it wasn't for what I think is his 'gill issue' and me being worried, I would have said he seemed to just want to spend yesterday floating in the one corner of the tank relaxing. He made the odd swim to the floor and even rested in his nest on the floor of the tank with no problem, but he spent about 90% of yesterday floating quite happily I think??? If I was nuts I would say he knew I was nervous about him checking him so often and he was playing games with me (my axie is trained in psychological warfare or what lol).
Anyhow, fortunately I have been keeping a visual record of Lux since day 1 and have collated pictures of him so as to show you here for opinion on Luxie's Gill health.
I am at a loss as to why the gills I think are thinning/shrinking. I asked my mum for her opinion as I am not sure if the pictures quite show what I mean but she thinks he is losing them from the insides of his gill stem too. The ones still there are quite shorter I think and less lustrous than what they were.
Could this be an aeration issue with too much Oxygen in the tank (or not enough???)
I have read both online over the last few days on various sites- conflicting with each other. Even though I know he has lungs and can go to get air from the surface (which he has been doing, though I am not sure if it is too excess), I am a bit hesitant to think of fridging him at this point as if it is for example a low oxygen issue and his gills are damaged, would putting him in a lower oxygen environment be risky?
Speaking of fridging -He also doesn't like the smaller tub I found out (though I might try with a clear tub next time instead of opaque), as when I have put him in a small transfer tub suitable for fridging, he gets pissed off and races around the tub trying to get out and needs a firm lid on it so as to stop wanting to jump- which boggles me as the water in the said tub was treated and fine. Perhaps he is claustrophobic??
I am not sure if the gills have shrunken as much in appearance today as I have left him resting in his hide for the most part and the tank is in night mode right now so I don't want to bug him, but I do wonder if the last 2-3 days it has become that much more obvious or if i'm just getting so worried i'm imagining them shrinking.
I did try to call a local vet for advice here in Melbourne whilst I was waiting for the administrators to allow me to make this first post -and I won't tell you the explicits of what he said other than to say that he said a $30 pet is disposable and that I shouldn't be so concerned if he dies... if it wasn't for the fact he is excellent with my dog I wouldn't be going back to him but I have heard that is how he is with what he deems 'cheaper' pets (he told a friend with a wonderful pet rabbit the same thing).
I would be so grateful for the opinions of those of you here with experience as the prolific members on this site seem to be better grounded than any advice local vets or aquariums selling axies have been.
Kind thanks,
Matt.